It remains a mystery as to how, in the space of less than a year, Sanchez went from one of the nastiest, effective attackers in the Premier League to the husk he is now. Nobody even tries to kid themselves about him anymore.

Perhaps worse are the wider connotations of Sanchez’s transfer and subsequent failure at Old Trafford – a place where amazing talents – from Falcao to Schweinsteiger to Memphis – are shoehorned carelessly into a team without direction and end up searching for the exit door. Sanchez is a big expensive mistake – one United have made before and will, you suspect, make again. That is the legacy of the post-Fergie era so far.

To top things off, there is, of course, the fact that Ed Woodward’s desperate attempt to sign Sanchez has irrevocably and emphatically damaged United’s wage structure, diminishing their power in negotiations to both sign players and keep players, like Ander Herrera, who should be staying.